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Martin Linton, Battersea's MP, shows concern

Martin Linton has published a letter regarding the development proposal in Clapham Junction.

New development in Clapham Junction

Do you want two 42-storey tower blocks at Clapham Junction station? This is the centrepiece of a proposed redevelopment plan for the station approach which will also include a new shopping area and two new station entrances.

I have consulted local people and the overwhelming majority are against towers of that height. So I am opposing the scheme on grounds of height.

They are also against allowing the developers to build 550 luxury flats without any affordable housing. I am opposing it on those grounds as well.

I hope you will also submit your view to the Council and send me a copy.

Councillors will decide whether to approve the scheme in February. They can give it conditional approval – for instance they can say the height of the tower blocks must be reduced or that half the flats must be affordable.

There are benefits in this scheme for station users. The development will allow Network Rail to close the dangerous gap on platforms 15 and 16 and will pay for new station entrances with escalators on St John’s Hill and Grant Road.

(This is quite separate from the £9 million project already under way to provide new lifts to all platforms which fulfils a promise made by the Labour Party to make public transport accessible to all and is funded directly by the Government’s Access for All scheme. It will open next year.)

But improvements to Clapham Junction station don’t mean we have to have two huge tower blocks. They would be among the tallest buildings in London, double the height of council tower blocks on the nearby Winstanley estate and ten times the height of most of the shops in Clapham Junction.

I don’t mind if we have clusters of tall building in the City, in Canary Wharf and in Vauxhall, but two isolated towers would be an eyesore in Clapham Junction. I want our part of London to stay on a human scale.

I also fear that 556 flats and 239 residential car spaces are going to create even more traffic and overcrowding around what is already Britain’s busiest station.

What’s more, the development would cost 250 jobs at the PCS union (who have not yet agreed to sell their building) and 150 jobs at Moss Bros without bringing any significant new jobs into the area.

The station definitely needs a major overhaul, but I don’t see why we can’t have improvements to the station and a new shopping area without having to put up with two huge tower blocks.